tale from the office

I have completed the first month of my training (Hoyeh!). And the story goes like this...


The night before my first day, I couldn't sleep. Being nervous is one thing, but what kept my mind wide awake part of the night was the thought of deficit I will suffer with scanty monthly allowance EY is paying me. Let's do some math now shall we? Parking (7.00 x 5 x 4 = 140.00), petrol (50.00 x 4 = 200.00), toll (3.00 x 5 x 4 = 60.00), lunch (4.00 x 5 x 4 = 80.00). That leaves me with what, 20 ringgit? With all kinds of restaurants and fast food chains in close proximity to EY, I doubt my lunch will be 4.00, so yeah, predicting a deficit was prudent enough. I woke up and shared my concern with dear parents who agreed to subsidize for my petrol expenses. To my surprise, my weekly pocket money was also increased. Yippee! One problem solved.

Every morning, on my way to work I play this little game, to take my mind off of the heavy traffic. One of my colleagues unbelievably said once " Wah, so resilient la you, taking federal highway!". Well, if you're entertained, why not? The unwritten rule of the highway is that the fast lane is not always the fastest. So I usually stay in the middle one. The game begins when the car in front of me changes lane to what seem like a faster moving one. I will mental mark the car down and grin satisfactorily when the driver has to watch Mr Carl's fat green arse as I drive pass him/her. I think to myself 'mesti kau menyesal tukar lane ha ha ha'. Sometimes I randomly pick a car in the next lane as a benchmark. If I'm ahead, I'll rejoice, otherwise I'll sulk. I kid you on the latter part. Well besides that, I also have a remote control at my disposal to switch channels, sticking to that airing the most fun game show. I'm telling you, these DJs are so good at what they are doing, putting smiles on faces every miserable morning.

Now, on to the more serious part. As auditors, we work in groups, and I'm glad to be in a great one. My seniors have been so helpful and treat me like one of the staffs. So far I've been put under three seniors each of which is well averse and has her/his own pedagogy. I'm with 'D' the longest, who is a Warwick graduate and an ICAEW holder himself. It's a great opportunity to work closely with someone so waah! and gah!. Hehe. At times, I do feel like I'm being given mundane tasks (well, what are juniors for?). However, there are times when I just wonder how could my seniors trust me to do the things they ask me to do. Don't they worry I'll mess things up? I remember the first time I met a client to ask for a document. Boy, how they would stop their work to tend to auditor's request. (I felt quite guilty though that he had to stop what he was doing for me. But, an auditor's gotta do what an auditor's gotta do he he). However, not all clients are like that as some take longer to furnish us with what we need. Praise the lord for I've yet to encounter the client from hell.

During the course of me discussing with clients, I have to be mindful of what I ask because after all, I'm representing the firm. With seniors, I don't mind asking a few times to get things right, even to a point where I try to prove my Zarina Theory, which eventually turn out wrong (yes, I'm still green). As my clients give their explanation, which is never short of abbreviations (MGP, BOQ, CPC, MM, DCA yada yada yada), my mind is having a vocabulary marathon trying to decipher what the neraka this clients are talking about. Plus, with my limited experience and knowledge, I usually end up not knowing what to ask. One day, when I was doing a segment on fixed assets, my client told me why she classified the assets the way she did, "owh, because the new FRS requires the separation of bla bla bla…… right?". Oh really mrs client? I don't bloody know about the new FRSs whatsoever except those I learn in UiTM which I may have forgotten by now. There are other times when I feel like I need to ambil hati client. Well, I didn't give a good impression and asked her something stupid the first few times we met, so I think she didn't like me. (Note to self, professionals are not emotional).

As the year end was approaching, a lot of dinners were held and I was lucky enough to attend one which was of departmental level. That night, EY newbies had to perform. There were a lot of teasing and shouting going around. I don't think I enjoyed much, due to the hassle of getting to the place from client's office (what's with sesat-sesat jalan, traffic jam and heavy downpour). According to my seniors, during these kinds of events, our partners are especially generous with the 'drinks'. That night, I said the longest 'yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamcha' ever. ;p

Being in a non-malay dominated firm is somewhat refreshing. After all this while speaking in my mother tongue, with exceptions to English class of course, I sometimes find it difficult to express myself in English. Frankly, I didn't anticipate this problem as I don't normally have troubles in my presentations. Maybe I don't practice as much. But the beautiful thing is I can always speak manglish. Hehe. 'Right?' and '-lah' are frequently used by all of us. One day, my Chinese workmate F, told me and Z(the sweets provider) that she didn't like Fruit Plus because "ia sangat tegas". Z and I (both are malays) in unison replied "you mean keras don't you? Because tegas is strict!".

Junior auditors in EY are nomads. We travel to client's place every other day, or everyday during peak period, which is now. I've only been in office for only four days thus far, inclusive of the two day orientation. The first day I begin my work I had to stay overnight because our client's place is quite far. Even in our own office, we become nomads due to the hot desking system implemented. Well, you have to reach a certain level to secure yourself a desk here.

Something to cheer me up when I'm loaded with work is phone calls from encik saya-ng and dear friends. I don't deny that I have to 'control' because I don't want to sound gedik in front of my senior, or worse, clients. One time Ju called to get my opinion before choosing her audit group. Sarah and Wani also called me to ask about my result (which is good Alhamdulillah, the highest since I've been in degree program. Btw, trainees at Exxonmobil get their own extensions, 1G Kingston pendrive dan bende2 lain yang saya tak nak cakap nanti saya jeles ha ha no la of course I am kidding). The last day before raya/new year holiday, Lely called me after maghrib as I was packing to cabut balik. Guess what? She just got back from a movie with Sarah. Apparently those at Exxonmobil can leave at 4pm on Friday.

Now that I've completed my first month, I know I'm a few hundred ringgits richer. Ngeh ngeh. Sikit je la, tak kaya pun. Don't say "Wah Nina, bila nak belanja?" the next time you see me ;p. My senior even told me "your gaji memang tak boleh pakai punya!". Owh yes I know, tell me about it.